For as long as anyone can remember, hotels have operated under a 3 pm to 11 am check-in / check-out schedule. However, this is continually ranked as one of the most frustrating parts of a guest’s stay. But why is this? And why is this frustration starting to affect more and more of your guests?

More and more of your guests are arriving on flights

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Flying has got significantly cheaper over the last 20 years and as a result more and more of your guests are flying in internationally, meaning they arrive early.

Have a look at this graph:

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The graph shows the arrival time of flights into gateway cities* around the world. The vast majority arrive in the early morning.

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Now put yourself in your guest's shoes, you’ve just stepped off a long haul international flight. It’s 7 am and you haven’t slept or showered. Do you really now want to wait for 8 hours until your room is ready?

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It’s no wonder that, turning up to the hotel and being told that “sorry, check-in isn’t until 3 pm” results in so many frustrated guests and bad reviews.

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"Now put yourself in your guest's shoes, you’ve just stepped off a long haul international flight. It’s 7 am and you haven’t slept or showered. Do you really now want to wait for 8 hours until your room is ready?"

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The Opportunity.

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However, you can turn this frustration into an opportunity. With smart inventory management, you can offer guests arriving on early morning flights the ability to pay extra to check-in early. The key is to offer them the flexibility the day before they arrive so they don’t have to worry about it when tired after a long flight.

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If managed correctly, you can expect around 15% of guests to pay extra for early check-ins or late check-outs and these guests will pay up to 25% on top of their room rate for the flexibility.

Want to know how much money you can make? Visit www.hotelflex.io and fill out our form at the bottom of the page.

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*Gateway Cities are the main city hubs in each location (eg. London, Paris, New York, Beijing).